Elena Risteska

Elena Risteska (Macedonian Cyrillic: Елена Ристеска; born April 27, 1986, in Skopje, Macedonia) is a Macedonian pop/R'n'B singer and songwriter. She represented her country in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, in Athens, Greece, with the song "Ninanajna", and came 10th in the semi final. Elena showed an interest in music and drawing at an early age. Elena inherited her musical interest from her mother. In 1994, Elena joined the KUD "Kocho Racin", which was a club for folk dances and songs. Elena took part in school activities such as singing in the "Young Imitators" show and becoming a member of the drama club. In 1996, Elena made her television debut during the “Mak-Karaoke Show” performing the song “Flamingo” on the commercial channel A1 TV. The same year she started to take a course in English language, but also in French. Elena started to sing in the school chorus and went to Bulgaria for her first tour with the folk dances club. In 1998, Elena took part in many competitions and won many local, national, and international awards in drawing. In 2000, Elena went on toured in Turkey, Czech Republic, and Bulgaria with the folk dances club. Elena rose to popularity in Macedonia by competing and winning the music-based reality television show Play - Search For A Star in her home country. Her debut single, “Ona Drugoto” ("The Other Thing”)" (2002) became a hit there, resulting in her successful debut album Den i Nok (Ден и Ноќ).Risteska is also an occasional songwriter, writing for artists such as 4Play, Lambe Alabakoski, and Aleksandra Pileva. Following the great success of her debut album, Elena began promoting herself outside of her home. In 2004, she performed at the Golden Stag Festival in Braşov, Romania and in 2005 she performed “Ni na nebo, ni na zemja” (“Neither heaven nor earth”) at the “Suncane Skale” festival in Herceg Novi, Montenegro. Elena’s video began rotating on MTV Adria and her popularity continued to grow. On March 4, 2006, Elena Risteska won the Fyrom preselection contest for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Ninanajna”. The song was composed and produced by Darko Dimitrov, with lyrics by Rade Vrčakovski. The song is an uptempo, pop song which includes elements of R&B, disco and dance music. Risteska qualified for the final, and after spending most of the night on the edge of the top ten (which would guarantee automatic final qualification for the country in 2007), eventually finished 12th with 56 points, the best finish for any musician representing Republic of Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest. Elena is currently studying Italian language and literature, as well as preparing new material for her upcoming album. In July 2006, Elena performed “Ne Mogu” (“I Can’t”) (Darko Dimitrov,Kaliopi,Darko Dimitrov)at the Suncane Skale festival where she placed 10th overall. Elena traveled to Yerevan, Armenia in September to perform as a guest in Armenia’s Eurovision 2006 representative Andre’s concert. She was well received by the audience, which was expected since her Eurovision song “Ninanajna” was a summer hit and a popular ringtone in Armenia. In October, Elena released a new single called "Esen Vo Mene" ("Autumn In Me"). The song is composed by Darko Dimitrov.